Magnolia man sentenced to life in prison for murder

By Jennifer Summer, Staff Writer

Published
3:45 pm CDT, Friday, August 17, 2018

MCSO Detective Donna Rippley hugs German Enrique Huezo Reyes, the father of Oscar Salazar, who was shot and killed by Nelson Segovia-Amaya in December 2016. Judge Phil Grant sentenced Segovia-Amaya to life in prison on Friday. less

MCSO Detective Donna Rippley hugs German Enrique Huezo Reyes, the father of Oscar Salazar, who was shot and killed by Nelson Segovia-Amaya in December 2016. Judge Phil Grant sentenced Segovia-Amaya to life in ... more

Photo: Jennifer Summer

Photo: Jennifer Summer

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MCSO Detective Donna Rippley hugs German Enrique Huezo Reyes, the father of Oscar Salazar, who was shot and killed by Nelson Segovia-Amaya in December 2016. Judge Phil Grant sentenced Segovia-Amaya to life in prison on Friday. less

MCSO Detective Donna Rippley hugs German Enrique Huezo Reyes, the father of Oscar Salazar, who was shot and killed by Nelson Segovia-Amaya in December 2016. Judge Phil Grant sentenced Segovia-Amaya to life in ... more

Photo: Jennifer Summer

Magnolia man sentenced to life in prison for murder

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Family members continue to remember 20-year-old Oscar Salazar for his caring spirit and how he always greeted his father when he returned home from work each day.

Salazar’s father, German Enrique Huezo Reyes, cried on the stand Friday as he remembered his son, adding that it wasn’t until Salazar’s death that he was able to meet his grandson.

Salazar was shot and killed by Nelson Segovia-Amaya, 30, on Dec. 26, 2016, at their Magnolia area home in the 29000 block of Aberdeen. A jury found Segovia-Amaya guilty of murder on Wednesday and 9th District Court Judge Phil Grant sentenced him to life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“I have no words to describe the damage this man has caused us all,” Reyes said

After the shooting, Segovia-Amaya fled the scene but was captured almost two hours later when a Texas Department of Public Safety Cpl. Troy Phipps responded to the call to find the possible murder suspect who had fled the scene and was believed to be driving along FM 1488 near Interstate 45.

Phipps stopped the truck and the suspect, driving the vehicle, matched the description of the suspect the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was looking for in regards to the fatal shooting, as he stated in his own words as a witness during the beginning of the trial on Monday.

During the sentencing phase of the trial on Friday, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Detective Donna Rippley recalled how Segovia-Amaya reacted when he was arrested and what he was being charged.

“I called my sergeant, MCSO Sgt. Paul Hahs, who speaks more Spanish than I do, to assist,” Rippley said on the stand Friday. “At one point, Segovia-Amaya did not want to continue talking with us so we informed him that he was being arrested. As we were placing him in the back of the patrol car, he asked what he was being arrested for and we said, the murder of his brother. He just laughed a little; he showed no emotion.”

During the trial, Reyes asked the court bailiff to speak with Segovia-Amaya, but the request was denied.

“I wanted to tell him that he is a bad person, that he took part of my heart and that I will never be able to be happy again,” Reyes said. “He has written several letters, asking to communicate with his mother, but I haven’t responded.”

When Reyes was asked how Salazar’s death affected the family, Reyes added “He killed my son. I see the reflection of my son everywhere. I miss his happiness, his smile and how he would hold the door open for me when I got home from work and give me a big hug. My younger son cries often, he remembers when (Salazar) was struggling to breathe and when he took his last breath.”

“I don’t know how to make this better, but I ask for you to have compassion,” Finch said.

In response, the prosecutor, Donna Berkey, stated she found it hard to have compassion or mercy when there was none from Segovia-Amaya through the trial and beforehand.

“The nature of this crime was so horrendous that to ask for mercy after showing none is offensive,” Berkey said. “He wasn’t a stranger or anyone trying to hurt him, this was someone that bought him Christmas gifts, someone by all accounts he enjoyed going to the beach with the day before, someone who bought him a hamburger for lunch - it was his brother. If he will do something like this to the family that loves and cares for him, you have to be concerned for every other person out there. There is no good reason Salazar’s son should grow up without a father and there’s no good reason Reyes should not have his son.”